Call for Expression of Interest: External Project Evaluation Consultant / Team
Project Title: Sustainable Food Crop Production and Rural Community Economic Empowerment in North-Western Tanzania
Implementing Organization: MAVUNO Improvement for Community Relief and Services
Project Location: Selected villages in Karagwe and Kyerwa Districts, Kagera Region, Tanzania
Project Period: 1 November 2023 to 30 October 2026
Assignment: Independent external evaluation mission
Expected Field Mission: To be agreed with MAVUNO and partners
Application Deadline: 31 July 2026
1. Background
MAVUNO Improvement for Community Relief and Services is a Tanzanian non-governmental organization established in 1993 to improve rural livelihoods through modern farming techniques, community empowerment, and care for the environment. Through its Food Security, Environment, Bee Farming and Agriculture (FEBA) programme, MAVUNO is implementing the project “Sustainable Food Crop Production and Rural Community Economic Empowerment” in Karagwe and Kyerwa Districts.
The project targets 921 low-income smallholder farmer households in eight villages, with a strong focus on women, children, youth, food and nutrition security, sustainable agriculture, climate resilience, biodiversity conservation, beekeeping, medicinal plants, advocacy, and household income improvement.
2. Purpose of the Assignment
MAVUNO invites qualified consultants or consulting teams to submit expressions of interest to conduct an independent project evaluation. The evaluation will assess project progress, relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, gender responsiveness, and lessons learned, and will provide practical recommendations for improving implementation and strengthening future programming.
3. Specific Objectives of the Evaluation
- Assess progress toward the overall objective of improving livelihoods, food security, income, and equality between women and men among smallholder farmer families by 2026.
- Review the effectiveness of project strategies, including farmer groups, focal farmers, demonstration plots, extension follow-ups, exchange visits, radio programmes, and community forums.
- Examine the quality and sustainability of interventions in sustainable agriculture, soil fertility management, environmental protection, beekeeping, food and nutrition security, medicinal plants, and advocacy.
- Assess how gender, youth, HIV/AIDS, children’s rights, and community participation have been mainstreamed across the project cycle.
- Identify achievements, gaps, risks, unintended outcomes, and practical recommendations for the remaining implementation period and future project design.
4. Scope of Work
- Review project documents, reports, monitoring data, budgets, work plans, previous assessments, and relevant agreements.
- Develop an evaluation methodology, work plan, tools, sampling approach, and evaluation matrix in consultation with MAVUNO.
- Conduct field visits and consultations with farmers, women groups, youth groups, focal farmers, village leaders, local government representatives, MAVUNO staff, board members, and project partners.
- Assess project performance in old and new villages, including whether interventions are reaching vulnerable households and supporting sustainable change.
- Analyse post-harvest management, value addition, storage, marketing, record keeping, and household income aspects where relevant to project outcomes.
- Facilitate a validation meeting to present preliminary findings and collect feedback before final reporting.
5. Required Evaluator Profile
The evaluator or evaluation team should demonstrate the following qualifications:
- Advanced training and proven experience in project evaluation, preferably in agriculture, rural livelihoods, food security, climate resilience, or community development.
- Strong knowledge of participatory evaluation methods, qualitative and quantitative data collection, and results-based reporting.
- Demonstrated expertise in gender analysis and gender mainstreaming. This is considered essential for the assignment.
- Additional expertise in post-harvest management, value addition, food storage, farmer enterprise development, or agricultural marketing is strongly preferred.
- Understanding of smallholder farming systems, agroecology, nutrition-sensitive agriculture, beekeeping, and environmental management will be an added advantage.
- Ability to work respectfully with rural communities and communicate findings clearly in English; knowledge of Kiswahili and/or the local context is an advantage.
6. Expected Deliverables
- Inception report with methodology, evaluation matrix, data collection tools, sampling plan, work plan, and ethical considerations.
- Field mission debrief and validation presentation to MAVUNO and relevant stakeholders.
- Draft evaluation report for review and comments.
- Final evaluation report incorporating feedback, with clear findings, conclusions, lessons learned, and actionable recommendations.
- Clean datasets, interview notes or summaries, attendance lists, photos where appropriate, and any tools used during the evaluation.
7. Selection Criteria
| Criteria |
Indicative Weight |
| Relevant evaluation experience and methodology |
30% |
| Understanding of sustainable agriculture, food security, rural livelihoods, and community empowerment |
20% |
| Gender expertise and ability to apply gender-sensitive evaluation tools |
20% |
| Post-harvest management, value addition, storage, and market systems expertise |
15% |
| Financial proposal and availability |
15% |
8. Application Requirements
Interested consultants or firms should submit one PDF application package containing:
- Technical proposal describing understanding of the assignment, methodology, work plan, and team composition.
- Financial proposal showing professional fees, travel, accommodation, data collection, taxes, and any other costs.
- Curriculum vitae of the lead evaluator and any team members.
- At least two samples or summaries of similar evaluation assignments.
- Contact details for two professional referees.
9. Submission Details
Applications should be submitted by email to: info@mavunoproject.or.tz copy to: mavuno@gmail.com with the subject line: “Application – External Project Evaluation Consultant”.
Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted. MAVUNO encourages applications from consultants and teams with demonstrated gender expertise and practical experience in post-harvest management and rural livelihoods.
MAVUNO Improvement for Community Relief and Services
P.O. Box 273, Karagwe - Kagera Region, Tanzania | Email: mavuno@gmail.com